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Buy the Sony DSC-W230

The latest entry-level model in the company's W-series, the Sony W230 is closely related to the W220 model which was announced at the Consumer Electronics Show a few weeks ago. The Sony W230 looks to be a fairly straightforward LCD upgrade of the previous camera. Based around a 1/2.3" SuperHAD CCD image sensor with 12.1 megapixel resolution coupled to a Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar branded 4x optical zoom lens, the Sony W230 offers equivalent focal lengths will range from 30 to 120mm, while the maximum aperture varies from f/2.8 to f/5.8 across the zoom range. Macro focusing will be possible down to a minimum of four centimeters. The W230 will forgo any optical viewfinder in favor of a 3.0" LCD display with 230,000 dot resolution - just a little bigger than the 2.7" LCD of the W220, although the dot count is identical.

The Sony Cybershot W230 will offer ISO sensitivity ranging from 100 to 3,200 equivalent, and will include both true mechanical image stabilization, as well as Digital Image Stabilization which functions by raising the camera's sensitivity (and along with it, the noise levels) so as to achieve a higher shutter speed and reduce motion blurring. The Sony W230 will also include face detection capable of differentiating between children and adults, and will take into account the locations of detected faces when calculating autoexposure and autofocus variables. The Sony Cyber-shot W230 will feature in-camera retouching capabilities, with soft focus, fish eye effect, cross filter, partial color, retro, radiation, red-eye correction, trimming, unsharp masking and smile effects being on offer.

Other features of the Sony DSC-W230 will include seven scene modes plus an Intelligent Scene Recognition mode which automatically chooses between five of these modes, plus MPEG Movie VX video, a Dynamic Range Optimizer function, and both USB / video output connections. The W230's body will be available in a range of colors including silver, pink, blue and black - the pink and blue models featuring a new finish that differs from that on previous models. Pricing is expected to be in the region of $200 - a $10 premium over the Sony W220 for an extra 0.3" of LCD diagonal - and availability is set for April 2009.